View source for Vielle

{{Short description|Musical instrument}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox Instrument
| name           = Vielle
| names          = 
| image          = Viella2.jpg
| image_capt     = Modern reconstruction of a ''vielle'' depicted in a painting by [[Hans Memling]]
| classification = *[[Bowed string instrument]]s
| range          = 
| related        = Bowed
* [[Byzantine lira]]
*[[Guitar fiddle]]
* [[Fiddle]]
* [[Crwth]]
* [[Rebec]]
* [[Viol]]
Plucked
*[[Citole]]
}}

The {{lang|fr|'''vielle'''}} {{IPAc-en|v|i|ˈ|ɛ|l|}} is a European bowed [[stringed instrument]] used in the [[Medieval music|medieval]] period, similar to a modern [[violin]] but with a somewhat longer and deeper body, three to five gut strings, and a leaf-shaped pegbox with frontal tuning pegs, sometimes with a figure-8 shaped body.{{Citation needed|date=August 2018}} Whatever external form they had, the box-soundchest consisted of [[Sound board (music)|back and belly]] joined by ribs, which experience has shown to be the construction for bowed instruments. The most common shape given to the earliest vielles in France was an oval, which with its modifications remained in favour until the Italian [[lira da braccio]] asserted itself as the better type, leading to the [[violin]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Vielle|volume=28|page=50|first=Kathleen|last=Schlesinger|author-link=Kathleen Schlesinger}}</ref>

The instrument was also known as a ''fidel'' or a ''viuola'', although the French name for the instrument, ''Vièle'', is generally used; the word comes from the same root as ''[[fiddle]]''.  It was one of the most popular instruments of the medieval period, and was used by [[troubadours]] and [[jongleur]]s from the 13th through the 15th centuries. The ''vielle'' possibly derived from the [[Byzantine lyra|lira]], a [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] bowed instrument closely related to the [[rebab]], an Arab bowed instrument.<ref>"fiddle," ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/206069/fiddle (retrieved March 06, 2009)</ref> There are many medieval illustrations of different types of vielles in manuscripts,<ref>{{in lang|fr}} [http://musiconis.huma-num.fr/fiche/47/Roi+David+jouant+de+la+vièle+en+huit Roi David jouant de la vièle en huit]{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> sculptures and paintings.

Starting in the middle or end of the 15th century, the word ''vielle'' was used to refer to the [[hurdy-gurdy]], as a shortened form of its name: ''vielle à roue'' ("vielle with a wheel").{{sfn|Schlesinger|1911}}

Several modern groups of musicians have formed into bands to play [[early music]] (pre-[[Baroque music|Baroque]]), and they sometimes include vielles, or modern reproductions, in their ensembles, together with other instruments such as [[rebec]]s and [[baglama|saz]].
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==Gallery==
{{Gallery
|width=150
|height=
|File:Violas de arco en un manuscrito del año 900 - 950.jpg|<small>[[Andalusi Romance|Mozarabic]] miniature of a ''[[Beatos|Beato]]'' dated around [[900]]-[[950]] in Spain. [[Biblioteca Nacional de España|BNE]] Vitr. 14/1. Folio 130r.</small>
|File:Vielles and Citole, Manuscript T (El Escorial, Biblioteca del Real Monasterio, MS. T. I. 1), fol. 5r, detail.jpg|<small>  Image cropped from the [[Cantigas de Santa Maria]] (codex MS T.I. 1). Two vielles (left) and a citole. Spain, c. 1280.</small>
|File:Vihuela de arco pequeña en las Cantigas de Alfonso X el Sabio.jpg|<small>Vielle or vihela de arco in the [[Cantigas de Santa Maria]], Codex of musicians, circa 1280 A.D. Image demonstrates playing upright on the musician's knee.</small>
|Ormesby Psalter Vielle.jpg |<small>''Vielle'' or fiddle from c. 1310,<br/>Ormesby Psalter, [[Bodleian Library]] </small>
|File:Anonymous vielle-player from the Codex Manesse.PNG| <small>''Vielle'' from the Codex Manesse, UB Heidelberg, c. 1305-1315.</small>
|File:Fidulaconfrascos.JPG|<small>Modern build of a viella from Spain. Based on a sculpture instrument at the [[Portico of Glory|Mirta Caviello del Portico de la Gloria de Santiago de Compostela]].</small>
|File:Codex Manesse 312r Reinmar der Fiedler.jpg|<small>Reinmar the fiddler, from the [[Codex Manesse]]. <br>Germany, c. 1305-1315.</small>
|File:Peterborough Psalter vielle.png|<small>Player of a three-string ''vielle''. Image in margin of [[Peterborough Psalter]].<br> Early 14th Century.</small>
|File:Master of the Brussels Initials and Associates (French) - Hours of Charles the Noble, King of Navarre (1361-1425), fol. 325r, Text - 1964.40.325.a - Cleveland Museum of Art cropped.jpg|<small>Half-man, half-beast playing a three-string ''vielle'' left-handed. Image in margin of the [[Hours of Charles the Noble]].<br> Early 15th Century.</small>
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://ludowe.instrumenty.edu.pl/en/instruments-/categories/category/316 Vielles (''Polish folk musical instruments'')]
* [http://musiconis.huma-num.fr/recherche_simple?query=vi%C3%A8le Vielles (''Musiconis Database, Université Paris-Sorbonne'')]

{{Medieval music}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Necked lutes]]
[[Category:Early musical instruments]]
[[Category:Medieval musical instruments]]


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